178 THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. [chap. vi. 
in spring or autumn; or, if by seed, it is 
sown in March. It is, however, seldom 
grown in English gardens. 
The Onion tribe .—Very few onions, except 
for salads, are generally grown in small gar¬ 
dens. Where thej? are grown the soil should 
be a rich loam, well manured with very rotten 
dung; and though the beds need not be dug 
more than a spade deep, the soil to that 
depth should be well pulverized. The seed 
is sown broad-cast in March, on beds about 
four feet wide, and after it is raked in, the 
surface of the bed is rolled or beaten flat 
with the spade. In about three weeks the 
beds should be hoed, and thinned, as the 
young onions will be then ready for salads; 
and the beds should be again hoed and 
thinned out, from time to time, as the onions 
may be wanted. When the onions are from 
three to six inches apart, they are generally 
left to swell for the main crop, and they will 
be ready to draw in August or September. 
Many persons, about a month or six weeks 
before the onions are ready to take up, bend 
the stalks down flat on the bed, to throw all 
the strength of the plant into the bulb, and 
